Adriana Trevizo

Blowout, $859294 Civic Center Dr.310-276-4470

Attempts to add a touch of va-va-voom to our fine, shoulder-length hair usually fall flat. Our request to Trevizo: Give us lasting volume and make our stringy ends seem convincingly full. After diligently focusing her blow-dryer on our roots to plump them up, Trevizo used a large round brush to turn out a flip, which she said would prevent our ends from separating. In order to keep our hair from seeming too retro, she zigzagged her fingers through it, producing unprecedented body and a modern, imperfect finish. It was just the type of boost we needed.

Michael Canale

Darin Birchler

Cut, $75 and up830 N. La Brea323-464-8100

Over the past six years, Birchler has been building a fierce word-of-mouth following that includes actors, college students, and housewives. In November, he opened his own warehouse-style salon, where DJs spin in a loft above the cutting floor. Birchler's low-key, "everybody's a celebrity" attitude made us feel instantly relaxed (or at least as relaxed as we could be with a thumping disco beat in the background). Since we insisted on keeping our cherished length, Birchler "strengthened it" by trimming an inch, and cut long, concave layers with artisan-like precision. He finished off our new look with eye-framing Amber Valletta bangs—and in the salon's exclusive nightclub atmosphere, we felt a little bit like her, too.

Brant Mayfield

Chris McMillan

Sally Hershberger

$6008944 Burton Way310-285-0088

Cuts worth every last C-note.

Andy LeCompte

Cut, $1508944 Burton Way310-285-0088

We expected the standard architectural slickness from this new Beverly Hills salon, but instead walked into a room of exposed brick and distressed wood with the warmth of a Kansas farm. Our stylist, LeCompte, was as laid-back as the decor—he didn't fight our haircut paranoia, and agreed to take off only a couple of inches. The result was a softly layered shoulder-length cut that, miraculously, didn't require a single product. Which tipped us off to what McMillan and his team obviously already know—natural just feels better.

Lana Gordon

Highlights, $200 and up348 N. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills310-274-0851

To lowlight or not to lowlight: That is the question facing overprocessed blondes like us who want a less ashy look. "Lowlights add darkness and depth, but because the dye is going on top of already-treated hair, it fades to muddy and needs to be retouched every three weeks," Gordon said. Instead, she played up our natural dark blonde hair by weaving in honey-colored highlights for contrast. Three trips to the shampoo sink later (to rinse out each section of dye at its peak), we had the most realistic-looking highlights we've seen. Because Gordon prefers to let the dye "take" naturally rather than hastening it under the dryer, two hours had elapsed since we walked in the door. And it was worth every second.